Tech blog claims Microsoft is working on technology to make Xbox 360 and Xbox One games playable in a browser

Microsoft may be developing a streaming service that would allow games from both of their most recent consoles to be played on a PC with minimal lag, claims technology news site Neowin.

Such a service would likely build upon Outatime, a research project within the company made public last month, which used FPS Doom 3 and RPG Fable III to test a method of disguising network latency for "mobile cloud gaming".

It would enable Microsoft to compete directly with PlayStation Now, the Sony streaming service currently in Open Beta in the US and Canada.

The report claims that the service has progressed beyond the concept stage and is currently in testing, with highly positive reactions so far from users.

Microsoft are yet to comment either confirming or denying the story.

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This would be a very interesting development - particularly if they make XBone games available on the system. Granted it might cannibalize sales of the Xbox One - but I would guess that it would likely more than make up for it in total market reach particularly if the competition viz the PS4 turns a little more sour for Microsoft. They're preoccupation with the Xbox and the living room left the PC market completely open for Valve and Steam and now Valve is pushing to become the living room machine while cutting MSFT out of the picture with SteamOS and Big Picture Mode. This makes so much sense that I'd be surprised if Microsoft actually did it.

Considering consoles are almost exclusively sold at either cost or a loss, allowing their games to be played in a browser makes a surprising amount of business sense. And I only say surprising because of the missteps which have occurred of late. Here's hoping some onerous system (*cough* GFWL *cough*) doesn't make this distasteful to consumers.

Heh. I still wonder how things would be now had Sony not sued bleem! out of existence, bought the company and added support for PS1 games on Vaio computers way back in the late 90's early 2000's. They'd have been ahead of the curve on a few fronts, behind the 8-ball on others, but doing something we're seeing now in this post. Well, it's an interesting time for sure. Although I have to wonder how well it's going to work with a few millions of people trying to stream content at the same time or during busy periods where certain games may clog up the works... Eh, whatever. We shall see...

Streaming games is 100% a bad thing for consumers and companies keep pushing it because they gain full control over the games. They see it as a way to end piracy, but in reality it will be a way to fuck over the customer.

Edited 1 times. Last edit by Darren Adams on 15th September 2014 10:44am